Meeting more people along the way ...


andrewclaus, karin, and daisy in Prescott
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Machka and Rowan at Grand Canyon
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Rowan and I had a lovely time with andrewclaus and his wife in Prescott ... it was just brilliant to chat about hiking and cycling experiences. :D

From there, we were also able to visit Grand Canyon which was incredible.

And today we drove from Prescott to Flagstaff, via the scenic route. We saw Jerome, a mining village on top of a mountain, with a great view of the valley, and Sedona, which is a fascinating town with gorgeous scenery.

At Bryce Canyon
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The American Southwest is a pretty awesome place. I've done several month long car camping trips there and liked it every time. Great trip.

I grew up in Utah and have spent much time tramping around the Southwest. You are seeing some incredible places! So glad you are enjoying it and have an appreciation for just how spectacular and unique much of the landscape is. Great photos!

Amazing pics, it looks a bit like an ancient high-rise city.

It's really easy to let the imagination loose on these, and it depends on the angle you're looking at them.

You're right about the ancient high-rises, abandonned ones, with about 20 crows flying high above them, then landing on the tops (as they were).

From another angle, they looked like thousands of bishops from a chess set. And from yet another, a nightmarish gathering of ghosts.

This part of Bryce Canyon (from the Bryce, Sunset and Inspiration Lookouts) was simply as breathtaking as anything else I have seen on this trip (although Mont Blanc still ranks for both the scenery and the experience of getting there).

Cycling in Utah and San Diego ... :D

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There are lots of cyclists in San Diego!

Glad you were able to make it through our area.

It is beautiful here in San Diego. :)

Next up ... San Luis Obispo.

Then up around San Francisco area.

Then on up the west coast taking in as much of the ocean and ocean views as we can.

We would like to be back in Canada early next week.

Near San Francisco tomorrow ...

Then the Redwoods the next day ...

Then Eugene area to check out Bike Fridays the next day ...

Then maybe up around the Seattle area the next day ...


Well, that's the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes.

If you have the opportunity, try to stop in and get a tour of the frame building facilities in the basement at R+E Cycles on University Way in Seattle. They have created some interesting re-purposed machines and are a rare business that produces bike parts for export to Asia (Bushnell eccentrics). Dan Towle is rightfully proud of his operation.

If you hit Eugene on a weekday, you might enjoy a tour of the Co-Motion facilities too. I live in Eugene and haven't gone by, but other people have commented positively on them.

If you want to be inspired by a great place to cycle, take a little detour in Redwoods country. Head out towards Shelter Cove, then go over Wilder Ridge to Honeydew. At Honeydew, go west towards Petrolia and come back to civilization by going over The Wall to Ferndale. If it's stormy, that might be a bit much; I have endured some mighty wet times on that stretch of the Lost Coast. I've also snapped a few chains on the climbs.

Thanks for the tips ... we're also thinking of visiting the BikeFriday place in Eugene. :)

SanDiegoCyclist and his wife ...

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Red Rider, CGallagh, Machka & Rowan ...

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Red Rider & Machka ...

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We've continued to meet people along the way!! We stayed with another tandeming couple in San Luis Obispo (Pat from CA), and then had dinner with homeyba (from the Long Distance forum) who I knew from long distance riding but hadn't seen in years. Then today we had dinner with Red Rider and her husband CGallagh. :) So enjoyable, but so short!! We'd like to spend several days with everyone!!

I've finished the Paris photos. :) We spent about 5 days in Paris. During that time, we went for a long walk to Notre Dame, we did some shopping at Decathlon (of course!!), we did a 2-day bus tour, and we went for a walk in a couple parks.

We stayed with claire (who had just finished 6 months cycling around Europe) and boyfriend, who also took us out to an Irish pub near the Louvre, where they and friends played all evening. Very enjoyable, and we're very thankful for the hospitality. :)

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I am working on the North American travel story, and will hopefully have something ready to post in the next few days. I'm also processing photos, and trying to catch up. Almost done the European ones.

But meanwhile, I've added a whole bunch of Christmas-related photos taken over the past few weeks while travelling through the US ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-bb/
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Merry Christmas!!

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I've updated the story ... not all the way up to the present, but I'm getting there. Now that Christmas is over, I might have time to catch up!! We'll be in Canada for about 3 more weeks, and may do a little bit of travelling if we feel like it, or we might just stay put for the time being.

On January 16th, we're on the road again.

http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_N...erica_2012.htm

Bicycles on the train ... we didn't encounter this situation very often, but it was nice! This was our train ride between La Rochelle and Paris ...

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The day we left Paris ...
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Plymouth UK ...
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I have been adding photos to our Europe story ... more added from September 20th onward, and more to come. I hope to finish the Europe story by early next week.

http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_Europe_Main_2012.htm

Then it will be a big push to get the North American story and photos done. :)


And as for our travels onward ....

We are in Canada till January 16.
We are in Western Australia until January 31.
Then we fly to Melbourne. We have arranged to stay just north of Melbourne, sort of near where our stuff is stored, for 3 weeks.
And then ... ??? :D

I have finished adding photos to the European Story, and I have written something up in the way of Train Tips at the end of the journal. I still want to write something up for Heathrow Tips, but haven't quite got that far yet. Hopefully by tomorrow.

Regarding the Train Tips, if you've got one or two I've missed, I'd like to hear them.

http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_Europe_Main_2012.htm

Eating fudge in Plymouth, UK ...

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Reading about the Roanoke Colonies ...

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Walking the old and narrow streets in Plymouth, UK ...

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Welcome to Calgary ...

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The Calgary Airport was one of the better ones in terms of displays and interesting things to see.

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(As usual, click photos to see more)

At the bottom of our Europe story, I've done up a little segment on cycling to and from Heathrow, or at least travelling with your bicycles to and from Heathrow. There are several options ... Rowan and I have used a couple of the options, but the last time we were there, we learned about more, and I've included all the options we know about here:

http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_Europe_Main_2012.htm


If you've tried some of these options, let me know. :)

I have finished the text portion of the US part of our trip ... no photos yet, but I'm hoping to start posting them in the next few days.

http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_N...erica_2012.htm

North American Photos ... including Frank Slide, Crowsnest Pass, Sparwood and the big truck, a little bit of Montana, and Craters of the Moon in Idaho ... the beginning of the trip. :)
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Crowsnest Pass ...

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Sparwood truck ...

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Montana ...

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Craters of the Moon - that little yellow dot is Rowan ...

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Cycling through Craters of the Moon park ...

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I've started on the Colorado National Monument photos. I took 400-ish of them, and won't be posting all ... but there are lots. It was just that incredible!

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[HR][/HR]

So ... in about 36 hours, we'll be on the next leg of our journey. We're travelling to the western side of Australia. Rowan lived there for a while many years ago, but I've never been ... so we're planning to do a little exploring.

And we'll be going from winter to summer!